BHA still striving to rebuild

The Beaumont Housing Authority (BHA) is still striving to devise a plan for the rebuilding of Concord Homes that meets the approval of the Texas General Land Office. BHA recently received a letter from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) stating the entity would need to revise the latest plans to rebuild, specifically telling the authority to “develop an alternate plan that meets the GLO’s approval.” But according to BHA executive director Robert Reyna, that is not necessarily bad news, and all is not lost in the quest to rebuild the development at its current location as Reyna and numerous residents of Concord Homes desire. Via e-mail correspondence with The Examiner, Reyna conveyed his hope that an alternate plan does not necessarily mean an alternate location.

“We do not want to jump to any unfounded conclusions,” Reyna said in response to queries as to whether or not the letter from HUD meant they would have to move the housing development in order to receive $12.5 million in Hurricane Ike disaster recovery funds designated for Concord Homes. “There are several options other than relocation. HUD wants BHA and the GLO to reconsider an alternate plan to which everyone can agree, and negotiations will be scheduled soon. The best news we got from the HUD letter was the fact that the funds would not be recaptured or reallocated as we had been warned about in the past. The other good news was that the GLO would be willing to reconsider other alternate plans to help Beaumont achieve its desire to rebuild affordable housing in Beaumont.”

Reyna said the ultimate goal is to do what is best for the residents of Concord Homes and for the community, and that is what he intends to tell the GLO.

“Ideally, we would want to see 100 units back at the Concord Homes location simply because that neighborhood and community should not have to lose any families from the area,” Reyna asserted. “That is the message we hope to share with the GLO in our negotiations.”

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